


Truthfully

by cfo_absolute



Series: The Adventures of a Non-Binary Superhero [1]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, NB!Kara
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2017-07-11
Packaged: 2018-11-30 17:15:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11468064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cfo_absolute/pseuds/cfo_absolute
Summary: We all love NB!Alex, but let's talk about NB!Kara?





	Truthfully

**Author's Note:**

> Just a note that I used she/her pronouns for Kara throughout this fic as that is how Lena would perceive them until Kara says otherwise. If I continue this it will be with they/them pronouns for Kara.

No one seems to notice when Kara Danvers starts exclusively wearing pants, when the skirts and sundresses gradually start disappearing. But they do notice when Supergirl does. People notice when Supergirl rushes into a burning building in a new suit, one that looks suspiciously like her cousin’s, one that is suddenly missing its signature red skirt. 

 

Alex is the first to ask about it.

 

“Winn made it.”

 

Alex rolls her eyes. “That much I assumed. I’m just wondering  _ why _ . The last time you had a new suit you were… not yourself.” 

 

Kara, now back in civilian clothes, chuckles nervously. “I can assure you, I am not under the influence of red kryptonite.” 

 

“Then… what's up with the pantsuit?” Alex pushes. Kara is avoiding eye contact and she’s touching her fingertips to her glasses with every other breath and Alex knows that her sister is hiding something.

 

“I just…” Kara pauses, stalls, gives herself time to consider whether or not she wants to tell Alex the truth, whatever that may be.

 

She doesn’t. Not yet. “I just needed a change.”

 

Alex senses that she’s not getting the whole truth, that Kara reduced her answer to the vaguest version of it, but Alex doesn’t push anymore. If the years spent as Kara’s sister have taught Alex anything it’s that pushing the Girl of Steel will never end well.

 

Lena brings it up again a week later, albeit in a much gentler way. 

 

“I have to say, I like the new suit.” 

 

Kara glances up from her ice cream at the woman sitting next to her on the couch. ‘Yeah?”

 

Lena nods around a spoonful of ice cream. ‘Can I ask what brought about the sudden change?”

 

Kara frowns at the question. Because again, she’s not entirely sure how to answer. She doesn’t want to lie, not to Lena. But the truth is words she’s never dared to say out loud. So instead, without thinking, she blurts. “Skirts feel weird now.”

 

To which Lena laughs. She doesn’t mean to, considering how distressed her girlfriend looks. She can’t help the chuckle that bubbles up from her throat, spilling past her lips. “Sweetheart, I don’t mean to laugh. That’s just not the response I was expecting.” But Kara won’t look up at her now. She keeps her eyes down, her face flushed with embarrassment. If Lena could physically kick herself, she would. Instead she reaches over her lap, taking Kara’s hand in her own. She kisses the back of it in apology. “Kara, darling, I’m sorry. What’s going on? What do you mean about skirts feeling weird?” 

 

“They feel girly.” Kara mumbles. Her brain is in overdrive and her pulse is thundering as she tries to work out the best words. She didn’t explain this to Alex. She didn’t even try. But Kara doesn’t even have to look up to sense the gentleness and patience in Lena’s gaze. 

 

And in her voice. “Is that a bad thing?” Lena asks, softly. 

 

“Yes.” Kara’s answer is barely a whisper, so faint that Lena wouldn’t have caught it is she hadn’t watched Kara’s lips move. 

 

Kara isn’t sure if she should continue, isn’t sure if she should offer more of an explanation to Lena, isn’t sure if Lena will want to be with her still when she does. 

 

Her words are shaky and unsure as she speaks, carefully forming them one at a time. “Because I don’t feel girly. I don’t feel like a girl, not like I used to. 

 

Lena starts to reply, her natural curiosity and need to understand things forming a response before she’s really thought the words through. But she pauses, just before the words slip out when she feels Kara’s hand tense in her own. Lena stops and she takes a moment to read Kara’s face even though Kara still refuses to look up at her.

 

When Lena finally speaks her voice is soft, gentle, patient, everything she can do to make Kara feel confident enough to answer. “Will you explain what that means, love?”

 

Kara wants to answer. She’s  _ trying _ to, but the words are stuck in her throat. She knew people like this on Krypton. People who weren’t men or women, People who didn’t fit into the gender that they were made to be. Even Kryptonian science couldn’t exactly pinpoint why or what caused it, but it happened. It was normal. But here on Earth? Kara had seen people beaten, killed, and ostracized for their differences, for traits they had no control over. 

 

Kara knew she had no risk of being hurt, but the thought that people might turn their backs on her, people she cared about...The thought that she could lose the home she had built was almost too much to bear.

 

Sensing Kara’s distress, Lena shifts closer on the couch, setting the container of ice cream on the table and closing the space between them. “You know you can tell me anything, right? I’m not going to judge you.”

 

A weak hope sparks behind Kara’s blue eyes as she chances a glance upward. “You wouldn’t leave if I said I didn’t want to be a girl anymore?” 

 

Lena’s heart breaks at the question as realization washes over her. “Oh, Kara, honey, no.” She runs her hands over Kara’s arms with just enough pressure to be comforting. “You’ve got me, now and forever.” She waits for Kara to nod before she continues, her hands coming back down to rest over Kara’s. “So you don’t want to be a girl anymore…”

 

Kara nods.

 

“Do you want to be a boy?”

 

The thought had occurred to Kara, briefly. But that’s not what she wants. She shakes her head. “No… I don’t think I’m either.”

 

Lena smiles softly. “Then you’re neither.” She brings a hand up to tuck a lock of hair back behind Kara’s ear, smiling as Kara nuzzles into her hand. “We can talk more about that, but I want to ask- Is there a different name you’d like me to call you? Have you thought about that?”

 

Kara can hardly process the question through her relief. She’s been holding back tears through the entire conversation that she can’t seem to stop from falling now. “You don’t hate me?” She forces the words out in a thick voice. 

 

“Of course not.”

 

“Do you still love me?”

 

“Kara, look at me.” Lena cups her hands around Kara’s cheeks and tilts her face up. “I love you. No matter what. I loved you before I knew you were Supergirl and I love you now. The way you dress and what you call yourself is never going to change that as long as you’re happy. I love  _ you _ . Do you understand?”

 

Another surge of relief and love burns through Kara’s body, pushing her forward to touch her lips to Lena’s in a soft, loving kiss. A kiss that feels… normal, safe despite the secret that’s been shared. “I love you, Lena.” Kara whispers against Lena's lips as the two pull apart. “And to answer your question… I like my name. I just… could we stop using feminine words? I think I'd like to try more gender neutral terms, if that's okay.”

 

“It's more than okay, love.” Lena replies, her eyes shining with love for the new person sitting in front of her. “We'll work this out together.”

 

“Promise?”

 

“Promise.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> I really enjoyed writing NB!Kara. I hope you guys enjoyed reading it. Thoughts on me continuing this?


End file.
